Statement on DPN closing announcement

December 05, 2018News

Message to DPN members from the DPN nodes

Yesterday the Digital Preservation Network (DPN) announced plans to cease operations. The individual nodes that collectively provided preservation services to DPN seek to reassure the DPN membership as well as the larger academic and digital preservation communities that we remain confident about the future of digital preservation.

We continue to support long-term distributed digital preservation. The rich array of collaborative, community-driven digital preservation services in higher education offers reliable benefits to the academic community, despite DPN’s departure. Several of the services represented by DPN nodes provided robust technical infrastructure to DPN depositors from strong organizational bases that serve other constituents as well. That strength is unshaken by this turn of events. In no way does DPN’s end obviate the need for continued redundant, resilient, diverse preservation services working together.

Consistent with the values we affirmed last year, in the document “Digital Preservation Declaration of Shared Values,” which we all signed, at the core of our digital preservation mission is the belief that “we can accomplish these goals better together rather than separately.” We are united in our dedication to continue exploring future collaborative opportunities. Our resolve and our resilience in pursuit of our common goals remains strong.

In the immediate future we will work together with DPN to assist its depositors during DPN’s shut down process. While we continue to identify next steps, we will be moving ahead from a collaborative position of strength. We are available to work with you to support current and future preservation needs in whatever way we can. You can expect further communication from the node where you deposited content very soon.